MOSCOW, February 9 /TASS/. The Schengen system is going through hard times, and some of its agreements are no longer fully enforced, Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the European Union, said in a TASS interview.
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The diplomat said that the current crisis was a very serious trial for the entire Schengen system. "Various recipes are being offered. Some of the ideas are rather extravagant. For example, the idea of geographic shrinking of the Schengen zone or the exclusion of periphery states from it, to be more precise. There is also an opinion that the [Schengen] agreement was drawn up incorrectly straight from start and therefore should be re-written," the Russian diplomat said.
"The Schengen system is not just an agreement but a package of subsequent decisions, including the Dublin Regulation, which vests the first country of entry with the right to grant asylum," Chizhov said.
According to Chizhov, it looks a bit strange when refugees swim into Greece, which is part of the Schengen zone, from Turkey. "Then, they cross the country and head further for, say, Macedonia, which is neither an EU member nor a signatory to the Schengen agreement," Chizhov went on to say.
"After Macedonia they go to Serbia and it’s only from there that they get into Hungary and return to the Schengen zone," the Russian diplomat said.
"In short, the migrants cross this barrier several times. So, the Dublin Regulation is no longer applied in practice and for the moment has been cancelled de facto. Though nothing else has been invented to replace it so far, they have started pondering the issue already," Chizhov said.
Migrants cannot be integrated against their will
Migrants cannot be integrated into the European society against their will, Russia’s EU Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov said.
"Nobody will want to integrate migrants forcedly, besides this is unreal," Chizhov said. "The question now is to which extent the migrants themselves will want this, or they will prefer to adapt the European society to their beliefs and traditions," the diplomat said.
He cited as an example labor migration from Turkey to Germany in the 1970s. "Two million people moved there at that time. They were welcome, as hands were in demand, the economy was developing rapidly," he went on.
"A family settled down in Germany (I am citing Germany as well as Turkey just as an example, as this is true for all diasporas), and integrated. The housefather learned German, worked at a plant, was in good standing, earned his pension, bought a house and safely received citizenship," he said.
"Meanwhile, his children were born, let us say five sons for example. The sons grew up, they already had the German citizenship, they learned the language at school and everything was normal. Yes, their parents took them to mosque, or maybe not," he said.
"Another thing is essential - no one had envisaged five jobs in the German economy for the next generation of migrants. Moreover, that only job the father had, already moved to Africa together with steelworks, and that is why they feel the society they live in does not need them," Chizhov said.
"In other words, if their parents did all to integrate, the next generations are not even trying, falling an easy pray for recruiting by terrorists and extremists," he summed up.